SINGAPORE — Two Singaporean men drowned on Saturday during a diving outing in Pantai Air Batang, Tioman island, reported Malaysia’s The Star newspaper yesterday.

The victims, who were aged 35 and 48, had gone diving at a site about 25 metres from the shore when they got into trouble, Deputy Assistant Superintendent Zainul Mujahidin Mat Yudin from the district police was reported as saying.

“One of them was a diving instructor and the other his student,” he said, adding that a woman who was part of the group had spotted the two men in difficulties.

They were brought to the shore by other divers and cardiopulmonary resuscitation was performed, but they had already turned pale and were not breathing, said ASP Zainul Mujahidin.

The case has been classified as sudden death and a post-mortem will be carried out.

Last month, a couple from Syria lost their eight-year-old in Tioman’s Pulau Salang after the child went for a swim without their knowledge. Passers-by spotted the body of Saad Abdul Karim Mohd Altayasinah floating in the water and alerted the authorities.

In a separate case last month, the police also recovered the remains of two unidentified persons, believed to be foreigners who drowned, in Kampung Mukut and Pulau Tulai. Both bodies were decomposed and without any personal documents.